Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Stock Position in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 46.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,389 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,004 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 35.5% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 916 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 332.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 368.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 1,748 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 70,404 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.41, for a total value of $4,323,509.64. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 140,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,646,896.46. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.17, for a total transaction of $661,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $661,700. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 362,858 shares of company stock worth $23,341,044. 16.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on STEP. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.86.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STEP opened at $75.39 on Friday. StepStone Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $77.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.42 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $66.14 and its 200 day moving average is $63.39.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 21.53% and a negative net margin of 40.06%.The business had revenue of $282.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.00%.

StepStone Group Profile

StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm that provides specialized investment solutions across private equity, private credit and real assets. The firm offers customized portfolios, secondary interests, direct co-investments and tailored advisory services to institutional investors worldwide. StepStone’s integrated research and data analytics platform supports its investment teams in sourcing opportunities and monitoring portfolio companies.

Founded in 2007 as an independent private markets specialist, the company has grown its presence through both organic expansion and strategic partnerships.